V.34 Dial-Ups and other Tel Problems...

[Robert Dinse <nanook@eskimo.com>]

     Our main (206) 367-3837 hunt group, and various access lines that hunt
into that group are presently out of service due to problems at US West.

     The exchange that serves us, Emerson, is primarily served by a 1AESS
switch at present, although our (206) 367-3837 UCD hunt group is served out of
a 5ESS switch.  They cut our hunt group into this new switch earlier because of
service problems caused by congestion in the #1AESS switch. 

     Tonight in preparation for a cut of the remaining lines in the 1AESS
switch to the newer 5ESS switch, they put the 5ESS switch in "pre-cut" mode.
This is a mode where the 5ESS switch is being prepared for a cut-over but does
not yet provide dial-tone so that they can test between the two switches and
verify that wiring and translations are correct.

     The problem is that since our hunt group is already in the 5ESS switch and
being serviced by it, placing the prefix and 1000's group 367-3xxx into pre-cut
mode essentially told the switch our group is still in the 1AESS switch, don't
service it, but it isn't so our lines aren't being serviced at all.

     Normally there is a way to tell the switch; this line is already in
service, but the fact that our hunt group is a UCD (universal call distributor,
sends calls to the most idle line rather than hunting sequentially, in theory
at least) complicates matters.  They are aware of the problem and calling in
translations people to fix it. 

     Also related to this cut-over activity; we've had intermittant
double-dialtone on one of our voice lines.  This is a condition where both the
old switch (1AESS) and new switch (5ESS) both attempt to provide dial-tone and
service the lines essentially rendering the line unusable.  I have also made
them aware of this problem.